The Queen of Shadows

Prologue: Crimson

Acknowledgements:

For Chris (1964-2017) and Chester (1976-2017)

...

Over 2 millennia ago...

Run...

A young girl with long maroon hair and her twin sister were running for their lives. They bolted through a field of tall grass in the dead of night, making a break for the woods. Their lungs burned and their muscles ached as they panted for air, and ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Despite the strain on their bodies, the girls dared not slow down in fear of being caught by their pursuers.

Keep... running!

The girls looked back behind them at the sound of horses galloping and soldiers shouting in the distance, mounting to the urgency of their escape.

"They went this way! Don't let them get away!"

The young girl willed her legs to carry her faster when she suddenly heard her shorter-haired sister behind her trip and fall. Sliding to the stop, the girl hurried back to help her twin get up on her feet.

"Aife, get up!"

She grabbed her sister's arm and pulled up as they suddenly spotted a growing torch-light in the distance, and the sight of a masked soldier on horseback heading towards them. The girls were frightened as they heard the soldier shout:

"There they are!"

The sister named Aife looks back at her twin and pleaded with her.

"Leave me Scathach! Save yourself!"

The girl named Scathach looked defiantly into Aife's eyes. Her sister was far too important to her to leave behind, for she was the only family she had left.

They have both lost too much to these foul barbarians.

"Never," Scathach said as she pulled Aife back on her feet with great effort, and they kept on running. They heard the horses galloping behind them getting closer as they entered the woods. Their horses suddenly stopped, refusing to go further. They even went as far as throwing their riders off mount. A chieftain came up from behind the pursuers, his frighteningly ornate facemask signifying his rank.

"What is going on?" He questioned his soldiers angrily. "Why aren't you going after them?!"

"The horses are scared!" a soldier explained to him, fearful of his superior's wrath. "They won't go any further!"

"These woods marks the border to the Isle of Skye; the Land of Shadows!" Another soldier told the chieftain anxiously. "This place is cursed I tell ye."

"Cursed?! Nonsense!" The chieftain huffed in disbelief, intolerant of his soldier's cowardice. "I want ALL the slaves rounded up!"

"But milord!" a soldier pleaded fearfully. "Nobody that has entered that forest ever returned!"

He wasn't alone, as most of the soldiers were reluctant to enter the supposed haunted forest and go after the escaped girls. The chieftain was furious.

"You are all useless! Either go after them, or I'll have you all put to death!"

They ran for what felt like forever. The sisters eventually stopped to catch their breaths. Aife looked back from where they came, only to find that she couldn't discern just where that was. No soldiers had followed.

"Scathach... (pant) I... I think we lost them."

"I think so too..."

She looked around, with only the moon giving her any light. They were surrounded by sinister-looking trees and an eerie fog. There were no sounds of insects, birds, or any life whatsoever. In fact, the whole forest seemed devoid of it. The sisters were alone, yet Scathach did not feel at all safe.